Saving Private Ryan received universal critical acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast, and crew as well as earning significant returns at the box office. The film grossed US$481.8 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of the year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated the film for eleven Academy Awards; Spielberg's direction won him a second Academy Award for Best Director, with four more awards going to the film. Saving Private Ryan was released on home video in May 1999, earning $44 million from sales.

Plot[edit]

On the morning of June 6, 1944, the beginning of the Normandy Invasion, American soldiers prepare to land on Omaha Beach. They struggle against German infantry, machine gun nests, and artillery fire. Captain John H. Miller survives the initial landing and assembles a group of soldiers to penetrate the German defenses, leading to a breakout from the beach. In Washington, D.C, at the U.S. War Department, General George Marshall is informed that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family were killed in action and that their mother is to receive all three telegrams in the same day. He learns that the fourth son, Private First Class James Francis Ryan, is a paratrooper, and is missing in action somewhere in Normandy. Marshall, after reading Abraham Lincoln's Bixby letter, orders that Ryan be found and sent home immediately.

Three days after D-Day, Miller receives orders to find Ryan and bring him back from the front. He assembles six men from his company—Horvath, Reiben, Mellish, Caparzo, Jackson, medic Wade—and Upham, a cartographer who speaks French and German. Miller and his men move out to Neuville; there, they meet a platoon from the 101st Airborne Division, and Caparzo dies after being shot by a sniper. Eventually, they locate a Private James Ryan, but soon learn that he is not their man. They find a member of Ryan's regiment who informs them that his drop zone was at Vierville and that his and Ryan's companies had the same rally point. Once they reach it, Miller meets a friend of Ryan's, who reveals that Ryan is defending a strategically important bridge over the Merderet River in the town of Ramelle. On the way to Ramelle, Miller decides to neutralize a German machine gun position, despite the misgivings of his men. Wade is fatally wounded in the ensuing skirmish, but Miller prevents a surviving German from being executed and sets him free. No longer confident in Miller's leadership, Reiben declares his intention to desert the squad and the mission, prompting a confrontation with Horvath. The argument heats up until Miller defuses the situation, and Reiben decides to stay.

Upon arrival at Ramelle, Miller and the squad come upon a small group of paratroopers, one of whom is Ryan. Ryan is told of his brothers' deaths, the mission to bring him home, and that two men had been lost in the quest to find him. He is distressed at the loss of his brothers, but does not feel it is fair to go home, asking Miller to tell his mother that he intends to stay "with the only brothers [he has] left." Miller decides to take command and defend the bridge with what little manpower and resources are available. Elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division arrive with infantry and armor. In the ensuing battle, while inflicting heavy German casualties, most of the Americans—including Jackson, Mellish, and Horvath—are killed. While attempting to blow the bridge, Miller is shot and mortally wounded by the German prisoner set free earlier, who has returned to battle alongside the SS. Just before a Tiger tank reaches the bridge, an American P-51 Mustang flies over and destroys it, followed by American reinforcements who rout the remaining Germans. Upham executes the German who shot Miller and allows the rest to flee.

Reiben and Ryan are with Miller as he dies and says his last words, "James ... earn this. Earn it." In the present day, the elderly Ryan and his family visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Ryan stands at Miller's grave and asks his wife to confirm that he has led a good life, that he is a "good man" and thus worthy of the sacrifice of Miller and the others. His wife replies "You are." At this point, Ryan stands at attention and delivers a military salute towards Miller's grave.

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

In 1994, Robert Rodat saw a monument in Putney Corners, New Hampshire, memorializing Americans who were killed from the American Civil War to the Vietnam War. He noticed the names of eight siblings who died during the American Civil War. Inspired by the story, Rodat did some research and decided to write a similar story set in World War II. Rodat's script was submitted to producer Mark Gordon, who liked the story but only accepted the text after 11 redrafts. Gordon shared the finished script with Hanks, who liked it and in turn passed it along to Spielberg to direct. A shooting date was set for June 27, 1997.[3]

Spielberg had already demonstrated his interest in World War II themes with the films 1941, Empire of the Sun, Schindler's List, and the Indiana Jones series. Spielberg later co-produced the World War II themed television miniseriesBand of Brothers and its counterpart The Pacific with Tom Hanks. When asked about this by American Cinematographer, Spielberg said, "I think that World War II is the most significant event of the last 100 years; the fate of the baby boomers and even Generation X was linked to the outcome. Beyond that, I've just always been interested in World War II. My earliest films, which I made when I was about 14 years old, were combat pictures that were set both on the ground and in the air. For years now, I've been looking for the right World War II story to shoot, and when Robert Rodat wrote Saving Private Ryan, I found it."[6]

Portrayal of history[edit]

Saving Private Ryan has received critical acclaim for its realistic portrayal of World War II combat. In particular, the sequence depicting the Omaha landings was named the "best battle scene of all time" by Empire magazine and was ranked number one on TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest Movie Moments".[14] The scene cost US$12 million and involved up to 1,500 extras, some of whom were members of the Irish Reserve Defence Forces. Members of local reenactment groups such as the Second Battle Group were cast as extras to play German soldiers.[15] In addition, twenty to thirty actual amputees were used to portray American soldiers maimed during the landing.[16] Spielberg did not storyboard the sequence, as he wanted spontaneous reactions and for "the action to inspire me as to where to put the camera".[17]

The historical representation of Charlie Company's actions, led by its commander, Captain Ralph E. Goranson, was well maintained in the opening sequence. The sequence and details of the events are very close to the historical record, including the seasickness experienced by many of the soldiers as the landing craft moved toward the shoreline, significant casualties among the men as they disembarked from the boats, and difficulty linking up with adjacent units on the shore. The contextual details of the Company's actions were well maintained, for instance, the correct code names for the sector Charlie Company assaulted, and adjacent sectors were used. Included in the cinematic depiction of the landing was a follow on mission of clearing a bunker and trench system at the top of the cliffs which was not part of the original mission objectives for Charlie Company, but which they did undertake after the assault on the beach.[18]

The landing craft used included twelve actual World War II examples, 10 LCVPs and 2 LCMs, standing in for the British LCAs that the Ranger Companies rode in to the beach during Operation Overlord.[18][19] The film-makers used underwater cameras to better depict soldiers being hit by bullets in the water. Forty barrels of fake blood were used to simulate the effect of blood in the seawater.[16] This degree of realism was more difficult to achieve when depicting World War II German armored vehicles, as few examples survive in operating condition. The Tiger I tanks in the film were copies built on the chassis of old, but functional SovietT-34 tanks.[20] The two vehicles described in the film as Panzers were meant to portray Marder III tank destroyers. One was created for the film using the chassis of a Czech-built Panzer 38(t) tank[21] similar to the construction of the original Marder III; the other was a cosmetically modified Swedish SAV m/43 assault gun, which also used the 38(t) chassis.[22]

Inevitably, some artistic license was taken by the filmmakers for the sake of drama. One of the most notable is the depiction of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, as the adversary during the fictional Battle of Ramelle. The 2nd SS was not engaged in Normandy until July, and then at Caen against the British and Canadians, one hundred miles east.[23] Furthermore, the Merderet River bridges were not an objective of the 101st Airborne Division but of the 82nd Airborne Division, part of Mission Boston.[24] Much has been said about various "tactical errors" made by both the German and American forces in the film's climactic battle. Spielberg responded, saying that in many scenes he opted to replace sound military tactics and strict historical accuracy for dramatic effect.[25] Some other technical errors were also made, often censored, including the mistaken reversed orientation of the beach barriers; the tripod obstructions with a mine at the apex. To achieve a tone and quality that was true to the story as well as reflected the period in which it is set, Spielberg once again collaborated with cinematographerJanusz Kamiński, saying, "Early on, we both knew that we did not want this to look like a Technicolor extravaganza about World War II, but more like color newsreel footage from the 1940s, which is very desaturated and low-tech." Kamiński had the protective coating stripped from the camera lenses, making them closer to those used in the 1940s. He explains that "without the protective coating, the light goes in and starts bouncing around, which makes it slightly more diffused and a bit softer without being out of focus." The cinematographer completed the overall effect by putting the negative through bleach bypass, a process that reduces brightness and color saturation. The shutter timing was set to 90 or 45 degrees for many of the battle sequences, as opposed to the standard of 180 degree timing. Kamiński clarifies, "In this way, we attained a certain staccato in the actors' movements and a certain crispness in the explosions, which makes them slightly more realistic."[26]

Release and reception[edit]

Box office and critical response[edit]

Saving Private Ryan was a critical and commercial success and is credited with contributing to a resurgence in America's interest in World War II. Old and new films, video games, and novels about the war enjoyed renewed popularity after its release.[27] The film's use of desaturated colors, hand-held cameras, and tight angles has profoundly influenced subsequent films and video games.[28][29]Saving Private Ryan was released in 2,463 theaters on July 24, 1998, and grossed $30.5 million on its opening weekend. The film grossed $216.5 million in North America and $265.3 million in other territories, bringing its worldwide total to $481.8 million and making it the highest grossing domestic film of the year.[1]

The film received great critical acclaim. Much of the praise went for the realistic battle scenes[30] and the actors' performances.[31] It earned some criticism for ignoring the contributions of several other countries to the D-Day landings in general and at Omaha Beach specifically.[32] The most direct example of the latter is that during the actual landing the 2nd Rangers disembarked from British ships and were taken to Omaha Beach by Royal Navy landing craft (LCAs). The film depicts them as being United States Coast Guard-crewed craft (LCVPs and LCMs) from an American ship, the USS Thomas Jefferson (APA-30).[18][33][34] This criticism was far from universal with other critics recognizing the director's intent to make an "American" film.[35] The film was not released in Malaysia after Spielberg refused to cut the violent scenes;[36] however, the film was finally released there on DVD with an 18SG certificate much later in 2005. It currently scores 93% "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes[37] and 90% on Metacritic,[38] two film review aggregate sites. Many critics associations, such as New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, chose Saving Private Ryan as Film of the Year.[39]Roger Ebert gave it four stars out of four and called it "a powerful experience".[31]

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has expressed admiration for the film and has cited it as an influence on his 2009 war epic, Inglourious Basterds.[40] Conversely, film director and military veteran Oliver Stone has accused the film of promoting "the worship of World War II as the good war," and has lumped it alongside films such as Gladiator and Black Hawk Down that he believes were well-made, but may have inadvertently contributed to Americans' readiness for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[41] In defense of the film's portrait of warfare, Brian De Palma commented, "The level of violence in something like Saving Private Ryan makes sense because Spielberg is trying to show something about the brutality of what happened."[42]

Actor Richard Todd, who performed in The Longest Day and was amongst the first of the Allied soldiers to land in Normandy, said the film was "Rubbish. Overdone."[43] Other World War II veterans, however, stated that the film was the most realistic depiction of combat they had ever seen.[44] The film was so realistic that combat veterans of D-Day and Vietnam left theaters rather than finish watching the opening scene depicting the Normandy invasion. Their visits to posttraumatic stress disorder counselors rose in number after the film's release, and many counselors advised "'more psychologically vulnerable'" veterans to avoid watching it.[45]

Screenwriter William Goldman wrote a scathing essay criticizing the film, including:

Just when you think Spielberg has stooped as low as even he can, new thresholds are reached. Four agonizing minutes of pretentious syrup, climaxing when Matt asks his wife has he been a good man? What is she going to answer? Her husband is clearly having a breakdown. She says yes and Matt—wait for it—he salutes!...What to say about Spielberg at this stage of his career? He will win his second Oscar for this work, and probably a third when he finds another 'important' subject to hide behind. (Religious persecution, racial injustice, patriotism.) I have never met him, never been in a room with him, but no person can come so far in such a killingly competitive business without having a reservoir of anger and rage and darkness hiding in there somewhere. I just wish once he would let it show. There is no reason for him to do anything else than what he has been doing. The movies are wildly successful at the box-office, the critics bow. And if he had directed Bambi, guess what? Bambi's mother would never have died.[46]

Home video[edit]

The film was released on home video in May 1999 with a VHS release that earned over $44 million.[60] The DVD release became available in November of the same year,[61] and was one of the best-selling titles of the year, with over 1.5 million units sold.[62] The DVD was released in two separate versions: one with Dolby Digital and the other with DTS 5.1 surround sound. Besides the different 5.1 tracks, the two DVDs are identical. The film was also issued in a very limited 2-disc LaserDisc release in November 1999, making it one of the very last feature films to ever be issued in this format, as LaserDiscs ceased manufacturing and distribution by the year's end, due in part to the growing popularity of DVDs.[63]

In 2004, a Saving Private Ryan special edition DVD was released to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day. This two-disc edition was also included in a box set titled World War II Collection, along with two documentaries produced by Spielberg, Price For Peace (about the Pacific War) and Shooting War (about war photographers, narrated by Tom Hanks).[64] The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on April 26, 2010 in the UK and on May 4, 2010 in the US, as part of Paramount Home Video's premium Sapphire Series.[65] However, only weeks after its release, Paramount issued a recall due to audio synchronization problems.[66] The studio issued an official statement acknowledging the problem, which they attributed to an authoring error by Technicolor that escaped the quality control process, and that they had already begun the process of replacing the defective discs.[67]

Real-life similarities[edit]

Niland Brothers[edit]

The Niland brothers were four American brothers of German descent from Tonawanda, New York, serving in the military during World War II. Of the four, two survived the war, but for a time it was believed that only one, Frederick "Fritz" Niland, had survived. After the reported deaths of his three brothers, Fritz was sent back to the United States to complete his service and only later learned that his brother Edward, missing and presumed dead, was actually captive in a Japanese POW camp in Burma.